Always there for you
by Xuleika
Summary: What will happen when Jak is stuck in his dark form? Can he face his friends to get help? Set during Jak II.
1. Loosing control

Authors note: This would be set during Jak II, sometime after Jak and Keira made up over their little jealousy spat.

I guess if you haven't finished the game, there are spoilers, so yeah, just a heads up.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

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><p>"There he is, get him!"<p>

Jak ran across the broken concrete of the slums as fast as he could manage, quickly glancing over his shoulder every now and then at his krimzon guard pursuers. He was headed towards the dead end alley which housed the secret entrance to the underground, but there was still quite a bit of distance to cover before he reached it. He glanced behind him again, seeing an ever growing wall of guards forming behind him, and when he turned back around he saw that a few guards had already formed up on the other side of the bridge he had to cross.

Jak eyed the size of the gap created by the deep gorge in the ground. Normally he might have been able to jump it, but after the long chase through the city he was feeling quite exhausted. And the only bridge crossing the gap was now blocked by a group of krimzon guards. He didn't think he would be able to shoot through them all before the ones chasing him caught up, so there was only one option left.

Jak searched inside himself for feelings of anger and rage. As he did so he began to feel the dark eco coursing through his veins and entering his flesh. Skin paled to ghostly white and long black claws sprang from fingertips. Horns pushed through skin and hair and eyes filled with an abyssal black. A roar burst through his throat as he charged towards the guards on the bridge, clawed hand outstretched. The guards checked, between the monster charging at them and each other.

"Shoot that thing!" a distorted voice called through a helmet, and the guards open fired on the beast. Dark Jak dodged from side to side, avoiding the red lasers. Then he crashed into the front line of guards, purple lightening crackling as it leaped between pale skin and red metal armour. Almost the whole of the small group of guards were thrown back by the impact and Jak broke through the defence line to the other side. He now had a clear run towards the alleyway, but he hesitated. He couldn't lead his pursuers' right to the secret entrance to the hide out. He had to get rid of them.

He turned his head to look behind him again. The group of guards he had knocked over were struggling back to their feet while the group of guards that had been originally chasing him were clattering across the bridge. All the civilians had fled the area: it was just him and the guards now. One side of Jak's mouth curled upwards in a malevolent malicious grin.

Jak slowly turned around, dark eyes gleaming as he watched the guards running towards him. Once the leading guards were only a few feet away from him he leapt into the air, curling one hand in to a fist and then bringing it down hard onto the concrete. A wave of dark eco rippled out from the point of impact, grabbing at the guards as it washed over them and flinging them into the air, rank after rank until it dissipated at the edge of the battle field.

There was a thundering clatter as numerous armoured bodies smashed back into the concrete, dark eco lightening crackling across the red metal. And then there was silence, no moans or screams, only death. Jak straightened up and prepared to revert…

…

But it didn't happen.

Jak was surprised when the eco didn't dissipate from his body. He held up a long clawed hand and stared at it. Why wasn't it working? He closed his eyes and clutched his head in both hands, trying to force the dark eco back. However when he opened his eyes he could still feel horn against his fingers and his skin remained white. His heart started to pound faster and his breathing became heavier.

"Errr… Jak buddy, what are you waiting for?" a high pitched nasal voice inquired as a orange furry face appear in front of Jak's own, the ottsel having leant around from his perch on Jak's armoured shoulder. "Why aren't you changing back?" The voice had taken on a slightly concerned tone.

"I…I…can't," Jak managed to push out it a cracked voice, proceeding to swallow heavily. What was happening to him? That dark blast should have used up all his reserves of dark eco, and yet he would still feel it throughout his body.

Daxter's eyes widened as he stared at into the face of his friend. "What do you mean you can't? C'mon buddy stop toying with me an change back! You're starting to creep me out," Daxter said in an uncertain manner.

Jak simply closed his eyes and shook his head.

Daxter was looking really worried now. He had about as much idea of what to do as Jak did. He looked around the area, trying to think of something he could do to help his friend.

"Well, let's just get you back to the underground at least, we'll be much safer there since more guards will probably be here soon," Daxter said as he looked around again nervously. Jak did the same, before turning and hurrying off to the alley.

The wall that hid the entrance to the underground slide backwards to reveal a small door which also opened in turn. Jak stumbled down the stairs and looked around as his entered. There were no underground members there except for Torn, who stood bent over the table as he examined some papers in front of him. He turned his head to look up at the pair as they entered. His eyes noticeably widened in surprise.

"Jak… what's wrong with you?" Torn asked as he slowly moved closer to them, one hand still resting on the table.

"Dark boy here can't seem to go back to normal for some reason," Daxter explain as he jumped off Jak's shoulder and onto the ground into front of Torn. The ottsel was trying to seem light hearted as always, but he couldn't keep all of the panic out of his voice. "We don't know what to do!"

Torn put a hand up to his chin. An eco related problem could probably only be solved by someone who knew a lot about eco. He picked up a communicator that lay on the table and punched in some digits. The screen lit up and a green face appeared.

"Shadow, we need you back at the hideout now! There is something wrong with Jak…" Torn said urgently into the communicator, not sure how to explain the situation.

"What is it?" Samos asked from the other end, his brow wrinkling in concern.

"Just get back here," Torn growled through gritted teeth.

"Right away," Samos said, and his face disappeared.

About ten minutes later the door of the hideout opened again, admitting through two floating sages and steps followed behind them, indicating another person present. Jak, who was crouching on the floor with his arms wrapped around himself, turned his head to look up at the arrivals. Both sages looked surprised as they set their eyes on the dark eco monster, and started floating towards him, both asking Torn what was wrong with him at the same time. Now that they had moved away from the stairs Jak could see who was behind them. His dark eyes widened as a look of panic gripped his pale features.

"No no no!" he exclaimed, scrambling away from where the teal haired teenage girl stood. "No… she can't see me like this… no…" the distressed voice was now muffled by a hand that was trying to cover up his face as he continued to awkwardly crawl back towards the wall.

"Jak!" Keira exclaimed as he pushed past the two sages and ran over to him. She slowed down as she approached him when she realized what she was looking at. She had heard about Jak turning into a monster, but she had never seen it herself. Though at the moment, he seemed more scared than scary.

"NO! Stay away!" Jak growled as he huddled up against the concrete wall, trying to cover himself with his arms.

Keira hesitated for a moment, but then reached out and gripped Jak's left forearm in her right hand. The dark eco on his skin stung her a little, but she didn't care. She gently prized the arm away from Jak's face, and a large black eye rolled to look in her direction. Jak shuddered and tried to draw away from her but Keria held onto his arm tightly.

"Let me go… please…. I don't want… I don't want…" Jak looked away from her as he tried to huddle up tighter, as if he wanted to disappear into himself. He didn't want her to see him like this; he didn't want her to see this monster that he had become. She would be scared of him, scared of the claws and horns and teeth, she would scream and run away, just like they all did.

But she didn't. Keira held up her other hand and placed it against his white cheek. Her face was filled with concern.

"It's okay Jak, we are here to help you," she said it a quiet voice. She stroked his pale skin. "It's going to be okay Jak, it's all going to be okay," she reassured.

It took an hour, of Jak lying on the floor while the two eco sages pumped green eco into him trying to drive back the dark, and Keira sat next to him the entire time holding his hand. He screamed and writhed, spasms wracking his body, but never did she let go. Daxter sat perched on Keira's shoulder, looking down at his friend with concern. And then finally color began to return to Jak's skin and hair, the claws and horns withdrew and his eyes reverted back to their normal blue. Then they fell closed as he lost conciseness.

"He had stored up far too much dark eco in his body," older Samos said as he drew the back on his hand over his perspiring green brow. "We've managed to neutralise the excess eco with green eco but… it may be some time before he wakes up again."

As Daxter jumped off down and began to complain about whose shoulder he was supposed to sit on until Jak woke up, Keira gazed down at the sleeping blonde haired hero. She leaned over him and placed a small kiss on his brow.

"I will always be there for you."


	2. Pushing friends away

Authors note: I actually meant for the first chapter to be a oneshot but I forgot to set it as complete, and then someone asked for more and I thought well, why not? So here is another part to the story, which leads onto the third part which is am still writing.

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><p>Keira woke up the next morning to feel a stone floor under her knees and something soft under her arms which were crossed under her resting head. As she slowly opened her eyes and groggily looked around herself she realised that she must have felt asleep kneeling beside Jak's bed. As her green eyes locked onto the mattress in front of her she realised that Jak was gone.<p>

She shakily got to her feet, her knees hurting from the continuous compression of the hard floor all night. Talk about the worst place to sleep. She hadn't meant to fall asleep there but she hadn't wanted to leave Jak who had been unconscious for many hours after the incident, and she probably hadn't realised how tired she was.

She turned around the face the rest of the hideout. It was empty apart from the Torn. He sat in his chair, leaning back and resting his feet up on the table, holding up a piece of paper in front of his face. He looked up from it when he heard the girl's footsteps coming towards the table.

"Mornin' sunshine," Torn mocked in his gruff voice, his lips curling up into a small smirk. Keira blushed lightly, and then stepped up to the table.

"Where's Jak?" she asked uncertainly, her eyes looking anywhere but at the tattooed face of the former kirmzon guard. She felt uneasy around him; he was after all a little intimidating.

"Gone off of a mission," Torn said curtly, "seemed like he really wanted to get out of here. Samos said he should rest but he wasn't having any of that," he added, still smirking.

"Oh…" Keira said softly. She felt disappointed that Jak hadn't even said goodbye to her before leaving. "Well… will he be back soon?" she asked hopefully.

"Probably, it was a pretty easy job; I didn't have anything else to give him."

"Would you mind… if I waited here for him?" Keira asked hesitantly, thinking it might be a bit awkward if she did.

"'s fine," Torn said dismissively, turning his eyes back to his papers. Keira turned around and walked back towards the bed, sitting down on it to wait.

A while later the door to the hideout slid open and footsteps heralded the return of the renegade. Keira got to her feet as Jak emerged from the stairs. She took a single step towards him then his eyes fell on her and he halted in mid step. They stared at each other for a moment, before Daxter broke the silence. He jumped off Jak's shoulder and strolled over to the table as if nothing was amiss, jumping up onto the surface to get to Torn's level.

"Geezes tattooed wonder, that mission was a cakewalk!" Daxter exclaimed, sticking his hands on his hips. "Don't you have anything harder you can throw at us?"

Meanwhile Jak and Keira had continued staring at each other for a while, before Keira stated to walk towards him again. Immediately he broke eye contact with her and followed Daxter's path towards the table, brushing past her like he was pretending she wasn't there. Keira's heart sunk.

"Got any other missions for us?" Jak asked Torn curtly, his brow set hard into a scowl.

"Sorry Jak, but there nothing needs doing at the moment," Torn replied nonchalantly, not looking up from his papers. A small frown appeared on Jak's face at the reply.

"Fine, let's go Dax," he started walking towards the exit before he had even finished his sentence. Daxter turned around and then hopped of the table, running after his friend. Again Jak brushed past Keira as if she was non-existent. He stalked up the stair so fast that Daxter hadn't yet caught up.

_What a… ugh!_ Keira thought angrily as the door closed behind the pair. She ran up the steps after them, the door only managing to open just before she hit into it. She jogged to catch up with the pair who were walking towards a zoomer they had parked in the alley. She reached out and grabbed Jak by the arm, planting her feet firmly on the ground as she did. Jak's head whipped around to face her, his face a mask of anger.

"Let… go…" he ground out, his teeth clenched.

"Jak, what is wrong with you today? Why are you ignoring me?" Keira cried out, ignoring his demand.

Jak's head turned back around so he wasn't facing her anymore, and he didn't reply.

"What's wrong Jak? Why won't you tell me?" Keira pushed, still not letting go of his arm.

"… You weren't … supposed to see… yesterday…" he pushed out haltingly, not turning around to her. She heard an audible sigh.

"…That… but Jak… it's okay… it doesn't matter… I already kinda knew and I…" she trailed off, not sure what to say.

Abruptly he turned his whole body around to face her, ripping his arm from her grasp.

"No, it's not okay. It's never going to be okay. I'm a monster!" The last words he shouted as he became more enraged. Keira was taken back.

"… No, you aren't…" she said tentatively, shrinking back slightly from the angry young man.

"YES I AM!" he cried as claws sprang from his fingers and black horns from his head. A pale hand shot out and grabbed her around her neck, lifting her clear off the ground. Her own hands reached up to the same spot and she tried to grip and prise the hand away, but the hold was to strong.

"I am a monster, and now I know that I can't control it," he growled at her, "and one day I am going to hurt someone, and I don't want it to be you!"

Keira couldn't reply, she could barely breathe through the iron grip. She wheezes as she wriggled around in his clutch.

"So just leave me alone!" he finished, and then suddenly let go of her. She dropped down onto the hard concrete, gasping for air and holding her neck.

The darkness and madness faded from Jak's eyes and he returned to normal, and he looked down at her in a mixture of anger and shock. He turned and quickly jumped on the zoomer, flying away before Daxter even had the chance to get on.

The ottsel turned back to the girl who was sitting on the ground, holding her face in her hands. Her body shuddered as she sobbed silently. Daxter looked at her with concern and then waddled over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Keira, I am sure he didn't mean to do that," he said quietly to her as she wept. "I know he would never want to hurt you," he tried to be comforting.

"Why does he hate me?" Keira gushed out and she took her hands away from her face, revealing puffy red eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"He doesn't hate you, he just, hates himself..." Daxter tried to explain, not knowing exactly how to put it. For all his talking he wasn't very good at the emotional stuff.

It didn't seem to help, because Keira just buried her face back in her hands again. Daxter sighed. Looked like it was his job to clean up this mess.

"Look, I'll go talk to him Keira, try an', figure out what his feeling and maybe wack some sense into him, okay?" Daxter offered, taking his hand away from her shoulder. Keira looked up at him again.

"Thank you Daxter," she said softly, reaching out and grabbing him around the middle, pulling him small furry body up to her chest in a hug.

"Hey hey!" Daxter cried out, wriggling around in her grip. "Don't go crushing the merchandise sweetheart!" she let go of him.

"Sorry," she said, wiping the back of a hand across her cheek.

Yep, it was sure fun trying to clean up after Jak. Daxter sighed again and started to walk off towards the city.


	3. Apologies

Authors note: Okay, last chapter of this story, don't really want to drag it out too long.

Reviews would be really appreciated to let me know if anyone actually likes it, and may determine whether I continue writing these fan fics.

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><p>Blue eyes stared into the rippling surface of the red liquid, the small waves lapping up against the sides of the glass which contained it. Jak sighed and swirled the glass around again, though he didn't take a sip. He hadn't really taken to drinking alcohol, and not because he was under age, but because he was sure that an addled mind and dark eco was not a good mix for him or anyone around him. But now he didn't really care anymore.<p>

He had come down to Krew's bar to drown his sorrows, so to speak, through it wasn't really working because the drink tasted god awful and any small bit he had consumed so far hadn't seemed to take his mind off things at all. Tess stood across the bar from him, wiping out a class while looking at him in concern, but he just ignored her and she knew better than to ask.

"Jak, there you are!" came a high pitched voice from behind him, where the door was. Jak slouched further down in his seat while small footsteps approached him from behind. He lifted his glass and finally took a swig as the orange ottsel jumped up on the bar beside him.

"Hey Tess baby," Daxter said, winking at the blonde bar tender before turning to Jak, who was staring intently into his glass again. "What do you think you're doing Jak?" Daxter exclaimed loudly, pointing his finger at his friend. Jak shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but still wouldn't look up at Daxter.

"Nothin'" Jak mumbled, taking another drink, though only a small sip this time. Daxter's eyebrows narrowed.

"Do you realise what you've just done, ya big idiot?" Daxter continued just as loudly. Thankfully there was no one else in the bar except Tess. "Ya left you're girl crying on the sidewalk. Is that any way to treat a lady?" Daxter knew that soft words and comfort was no way to get through to Jak, only the cold plain truth would do.

"I didn't want to hurt her…" Jak mumbled quietly, setting his drink down and turning his stare to the wood of the bar.

"Well ya did, and the only way you can fix that is to march back over there and apologize!" Daxter stated, crossing his arms over his furry chest.

"What's the point, she probably hates me now. Maybe it's for the best…" Jak trailed off, resting an elbow on the bar and his head in his hand.

Daxter seemed to do a double take, his face contorting in confusion.

"She doesn't hate you Jak, she thinks you hate her," Daxter explained, and then shook his head. "That girl would stick with you through anything Jak, you should have seen her last night. She sat by you all night, put a wet cloth on your head, held your hand…" Daxter now trailed off, and then quickly shook his head again.

"What I am saying is, she was just concerned about you and you shouldn't have treated her like you did. But I know that you're probably already beating yourself up over that so that's not why I am here, my point is you need to fix this! And the only way to fix this is if you go over there and tell her that you're sorry and that you didn't mean to do what you did!" Daxter finished and then took a gasp of air, out of breath from his over expressive speech.

Jak grumbled slightly, he mouth turning downwards in a small frown.

"Don't push your friends away Jak, you need them more than you may think," Tess said in a quiet voice.

"I guess you guys are right," Jak reached up with both hands and pushed his fingers deep into his blonde mane of hair, resting his forehead in his palms.

"But what if she doesn't accept the apology? What if…" he could handle pushing people away from himself in order to protect them, but to be pushed away by someone close to him, especially her… he didn't know if he could handle it…

"It'll be fine big guy, trust me!" Daxter said confidently, pointing a thumb at himself. "When have I ever let ya down?

"Well," Jak began, removing his hands from his face and finally look across of his friend.

"On second thought, don't answer that," Daxter cut across quickly. "C'mon, let's go," he leaped on to Jak's shoulder and pointed towards the door.

Jak couldn't help but smile. Somehow, Daxter always managed to cheer him up, always made the world seem that little bit better.

"Okay, I guess I'll try," Jak said in a resigned tone, though the smile hadn't left his face.

"That's the spirit, no challenge to big for the Jak-man!" Daxter pronounced with a huge grin plastered across his furry mug. With that they turned away from the bar and walked out, Tess secretly smiling as she watched them go. They were going to be all right.

''''

Jak walked into the garage alone, after they had figured Keira must be here because she hadn't been back at the hideout when they had checked. He had told Daxter to wait in the hovercar because he wanted to do this by himself. He felt much better now that Daxter had talked him around his personal barriers, and though he was apprehensive he knew that he had to face his friend by himself and apologize, he owed her that much.

He saw Keira standing at a workbench with her back turned to him, her elbows moving as she worked on something. He stopped, hesitating, but then continued walking towards her. At the sound of his footsteps she froze, but didn't turn around. He stopped a few feet away from her.

"Ummm, Keira…" he began, lifting up one arm and scratching the back of his neck in discomfort, "I just wanted to… well I wanted to say that…"his words came out haltingly, and he couldn't seem to say what he wanted to. Damn his inability with words.

"…what I mean is… I didn't mean to… to hurt you… and… I'm sorry," he managed to blurt out awkwardly, mentally slapping himself in the face as he did so. He sounded so stupid, mainly since he had no idea how to properly handle problems of the emotional type. He could take down an army of metal heads by himself and yet he couldn't manage to share his feelings with anyone.

Keira finally turned around, taking her goggles off her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a stern look.

"I mean… not just sorry for hurting you… but… sorry for… pushing you away," the last words came out in a sigh, and he hoped that he had said the right thing.

Keira's facial expression softened and she uncrossed her arms, taking a few steps to close the gap between them.

"Thank you Jak," she said quietly, taking his hand in her own. "It's okay; though I may not understand everything about you I know it wasn't your fault."

"But it was Keira, I lost control and let myself lash out at you when I shouldn't have," Jak said ashamed, looking away from her face.

"No, it wasn't you Jak, it was the dark eco. It's all Praxis's fault, everything is," she said firmly, scowling at the thought of the Baron. Sometimes she even wished she could kill him herself, after he had taken away the happy young man who had played with her on the beach when they were kids and had blushed whenever she had talked to him when they were older. Now what was left was this angry, often cold-hearted renegade, though she believed that the boy was still inside him somewhere.

Jak grunted in agreement. "Yet another thing to make that bastard pay for, when I finally get to him," he clenched his other hand into a fist and stared at it with hard eyes.

"It's alright Jak, he will get what he deserves one day," she said reassuringly. He looked back up into her eyes and she squeezed his hand. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

She would always be there for him.


End file.
